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Max,
I have attached some pictures that Dad took and we
scanned. I will have more later on to send you, but they
haven't been scanned yet.
The first picture is of my father - Edwin H. Helm (Dad was
a gunner and a cook) Pictures 2 thru 4 are of some of the
crew on board the Virgo. Picture five is of a couple of
U.S.S. Virgo officers with a Japanese boy when they went
ashore during the early occupation of Japan right after
the surrender.
Dad, Edwin Helm, was on the U.S.S. Virgo during the last
part of WW 2 and the first several months of the
Occupation of Japan. His ship helped supply U.S. forces
during the first part of the occupation of Japan
immediately after the surrender. He told of seeing some of
the destruction to their cities and seeing people fight
over the food scraps that the ship would put out when
docked. He told me of children fighting over apple cores
that were thrown out by our occupying military.
He said not long after they were there occupying Japan any
U.S. Navy or U.S. military personnel who wanted a Japanese
military rifle were told to line up by a train box car
that was full of rifles & ammo, and each U.S. military
personnel was given a Japanese military rifle with boxes
of ammunition. The idea was to not have them available to
the Japanese, but in our U.S. military possession. Dad
brought his Japanese rifle home after the war and was very
proud of it, but when he was away at college his mother
(who hated guns) gave it away to get it out of the house.
Dad was really ticked about that, for many years. I
believe Dad said it was a 7 mm rifle.
Blessings to you and yours,
Mark Helm
Eldest son of Edwin H. Helm
Email Mark Helm |
Edwin H. Helm |
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Japan shortly after occupation
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